# 1974 St. Louis Cardinals season

The 1974 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 93rd season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 83rd season in the National League. The Cardinals went 86–75 during the season and finished second in the National League East, 1+1⁄2 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates.

## Offseason

* October 26, 1973: Eddie Fisher was released by the St. Louis Cardinals.
* October 26, 1973: Bernie Carbo and Rick Wise were traded by the Cardinals to the Boston Red Sox for Reggie Smith and Ken Tatum.
* December 5, 1973: Tommie Agee was traded by the Cardinals to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Pete Richert.
* December 7, 1973: Diego Seguí, Reggie Cleveland and Terry Hughes were traded by the Cardinals to the Boston Red Sox for Lynn McGlothen, John Curtis, and Mike Garman.

## Regular season

Outfielder Lou Brock led the NL with 118 stolen bases, breaking the modern-era (post-1901) MLB single-season mark of 104, set by Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Maury Wills in 1962. He also broke the all-time National League record of 111 set by John Montgomery Ward in 1887, when stolen bases were counted differently. Brock broke Wills' record on September 10 in a game against the visiting Philadelphia Phillies. Brock's record still stands as the NL record, but Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics broke the modern MLB mark in 1982, with 130 steals. The all-time MLB record was, and still is, held by Hugh Nicol, who stole 138, also in 1887, while playing in the American Association.
Outfielder Bake McBride won the Rookie of the Year Award this year, batting .309, with 6 home runs and 56 RBIs.

### Season standings

vteNL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 88 | 74 | .543 | — | 52‍–‍29 | 36‍–‍45 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 86 | 75 | .534 | 1½ | 44‍–‍37 | 42‍–‍38 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 80 | 82 | .494 | 8 | 46‍–‍35 | 34‍–‍47 |
| Montreal Expos | 79 | 82 | .491 | 8½ | 42‍–‍38 | 37‍–‍44 |
| New York Mets | 71 | 91 | .438 | 17 | 36‍–‍45 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Chicago Cubs | 66 | 96 | .407 | 22 | 32‍–‍49 | 34‍–‍47 |

### Record vs. opponents

1974 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 4–8 | 7–11–1 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 17–1 | 8–10 | 9–3 |
| Chicago | 8–4 | — | 5–7 | 4–8 | 2–10 | 5–13 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 5–13 |
| Cincinnati | 11–7–1 | 7–5 | — | 14–4 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 11–7 | 6–6 |
| Houston | 12–6 | 8–4 | 4–14 | — | 5–13 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 8–4 |
| Los Angeles | 10–8 | 10–2 | 12–6 | 13–5 | — | 8–4 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 16–2 | 12–6 | 6–6 |
| Montreal | 3–9 | 13–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 4–8 | — | 9–9 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 8–9 |
| New York | 4–8 | 10–8 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 9–9 | — | 7–11 | 7–11 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–12 |
| Philadelphia | 4-8 | 10–8 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–11 | 11–7 | — | 10–8 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 9–9 |
| Pittsburgh | 8–4 | 9–9 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 8–10 | — | 9–3 | 8–4 | 7–11 |
| San Diego | 1–17 | 6–6 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 2–16 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 3–9 | — | 11–7 | 5–7 |
| San Francisco | 10–8 | 6–6 | 7–11 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 7–11 | — | 6–6 |
| St. Louis | 3–9 | 13–5 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 9–8 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 7–5 | 6–6 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 5, 1974: 1974 Major League Baseball Draft
** Bill Caudill was drafted by the Cardinals in the 8th round. Player signed June 15, 1974.
** Paul Molitor was drafted by the Cardinals in the 28th round, but did not sign.
* August 11, 1974: Steve Barber was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals.
* August 15, 1974: Ron Selak (minors) and a player to be named later were traded by the Cardinals to the Houston Astros for Claude Osteen. The Cardinals completed the trade by sending Dan Larson to the Astros on October 14.
* September 5, 1974: Ron Hunt was selected off waivers by the Cardinals from the Montreal Expos.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Ted Simmons | 152 | 599 | 163 | .272 | 20 | 103 |
| 1B | Joe Torre | 147 | 529 | 149 | .282 | 11 | 70 |
| 2B | Ted Sizemore | 129 | 504 | 126 | .250 | 2 | 47 |
| SS | Mike Tyson | 151 | 422 | 94 | .223 | 1 | 37 |
| 3B | Ken Reitz | 154 | 579 | 157 | .271 | 7 | 54 |
| LF | Lou Brock | 153 | 635 | 194 | .306 | 3 | 48 |
| CF | Bake McBride | 150 | 559 | 173 | .309 | 6 | 56 |
| RF | Reggie Smith | 143 | 517 | 160 | .309 | 23 | 100 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| José Cruz | 107 | 161 | 42 | .261 | 5 | 20 |
| Luis Meléndez | 83 | 124 | 27 | .218 | 0 | 8 |
| Tim McCarver | 74 | 106 | 23 | .217 | 0 | 11 |
| Jim Dwyer | 74 | 86 | 24 | .279 | 2 | 11 |
| Tom Heintzelman | 38 | 74 | 17 | .230 | 1 | 6 |
| Jack Heidemann | 47 | 70 | 19 | .271 | 0 | 3 |
| Jim Hickman | 50 | 60 | 16 | .267 | 2 | 4 |
| Jerry DaVanon | 30 | 40 | 6 | .150 | 0 | 4 |
| Luis Alvarado | 17 | 36 | 5 | .139 | 0 | 1 |
| Keith Hernandez | 14 | 34 | 10 | .294 | 0 | 2 |
| Ron Hunt | 12 | 23 | 4 | .174 | 0 | 0 |
| Marc Hill | 10 | 21 | 5 | .238 | 0 | 2 |
| Danny Godby | 13 | 13 | 2 | .154 | 0 | 1 |
| Bob Heise | 3 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Richie Scheinblum | 6 | 6 | 2 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Dick Billings | 1 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Stan Papi | 8 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
| Jerry Mumphrey | 5 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Larry Herndon | 12 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Bob Gibson | 33 | 240.0 | 11 | 13 | 3.83 | 129 |
| Lynn McGlothen | 31 | 237.1 | 16 | 12 | 2.69 | 142 |
| John Curtis | 33 | 195.0 | 10 | 14 | 3.78 | 89 |
| Alan Foster | 31 | 162.1 | 7 | 10 | 3.88 | 78 |
| Sonny Siebert | 28 | 133.2 | 8 | 8 | 3.84 | 68 |
| Bob Forsch | 19 | 100.0 | 7 | 4 | 2.97 | 39 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Mike Thompson | 19 | 38.1 | 0 | 3 | 5.63 | 25 |
| Ray Bare | 10 | 24.1 | 1 | 2 | 5.92 | 6 |
| Claude Osteen | 8 | 22.2 | 0 | 2 | 4.37 | 6 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Al Hrabosky | 65 | 8 | 1 | 9 | 2.95 | 82 |
| Mike Garman | 64 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 2.64 | 45 |
| Rich Folkers | 55 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3.00 | 57 |
| Orlando Peña | 42 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2.60 | 23 |
| Pete Richert | 13 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.38 | 4 |
| John Denny | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
| Barry Lersch | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40.50 | 0 |

## Awards and honors
### League leaders

* Lou Brock, National League stolen base leader, 118

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Tulsa Oilers | American Association | Ken Boyer |
| AA | Arkansas Travelers | Texas League | Jack Krol |
| A | Modesto Reds | California League | Lee Thomas |
| A | St. Petersburg Cardinals | Florida State League | Roy Majtyka |
| Rookie | GCL Cardinals | Gulf Coast League | Tom Burgess and Bobby Dews |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Tulsa